Sean is interning at The Elkhart Truth over the summer. In his blog, he'll write about his experiences through the internship, how his editing skills have improved and his transition from high school to the real world.

Sean wishes to continue his career in writing, focusing on spoken word poetry. In the last four years, Sean has written more than 130 poems. He plans to hopefully help the world with his words.

The importance of meetings and proper communication

For the first time ever, I have attended a professional job meeting. In this case, it was about improving the customer service system.

How the customer service system works here is through a recipe. With this recipe, we cook a nice meal of our understanding for the complaints. I won't go far in detail on how it works. Good customer service usually results in the issue being taken care of. You have to respect that customer and their complaint. Bad customer service may just end up in one of your ears going deaf from all the yelling of the customer, and possibly you getting fired from your job.

The thoughts that were exchanged through the meeting gave a great sense of teamwork. This is needed within the newspaper business because without teamwork, there is no communication. Lack of communication could lead to mistakes such as an obituary not being published. When that obituary isn't published, the customer will have complaints about the company. Mistakes are how we learn, but in the real world, you don't want to make too many of them. It could cause you the loss of your job, or if you are the head of a company, the loss of your business.

Lets say you go to an interview for an office position at a company called "Bobs Resources." You want to remember that 55 percent of your communication is non-verbal. This ranges from your posture, dress, the way you walk and much more. If you go into an interview with flip flops, a Hawaiian button up shirt and a pair of your favorite jean shorts, you're going to have a bad time.

What is recommended for men is a nice pair of slacks or khakis, a dress shirt that matches, a tie and nice dress shoes. For women, slacks or khakis that go well with a nice dress shirt would work, as well as dress shoes. No matter who you are, never forget a nice smile on your face shows you are in a positive mood.

The next 38 percent of your communication is tone. If you walk into the interview with an attitude in your tone of voice, you most likely will be told that the company will call you, and they never would call. You want to have a nice, positive tone within your voice. Nothing too quiet, nothing too loud. Show that you are happy and appreciative for having the chance for the interview.

The last 7 percent of communication comes from your words. In no way, shape, or form do you want to use slang within your interview. This shows that you are unprofessional and even in some cases, immature. Use words that are considered professional, yet understandable.

If I couldn't communicate correctly within The Elkhart Truth, there would be mass confusion for me and the other co-workers. If you remember these steps, you may be the person that sits in a meeting room. You may even be the one leading.